Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti DTM stars on the Zandvoort circuit
“Spettacolo Sportivo”, the largest gathering of Alfa Romeo cars organised in Europe, will be held 23 and 24 August in Zandvoort (Netherlands)
The event “Spettacolo Sportivo”, the largest gathering of Alfa Romeo cars organised in Europe, will take place on 23 and 24 August in the Netherlands. In keeping with tradition, the event is being organised by the Dutch club of the SCARB (Stichting Club Alfa Romeo Bezitters), and will be hosted at the motoring circuit of Zandvoort, which is located in the vicinity of the small town by the same name on the Dutch coast of the North Sea.
Star of the event will be the 155 V6 Ti from the Alfa Romeo Historic Collection, winner in the DTM Championship in 1993 with the drivers Alessandro Nannini and Nicola Larini, the latter also the first in the Drivers Championship with no fewer than 10 wins out of 20 races
It’s a genuine full immersion into the true values of Alfa Romeo, the Italian brand famous the world over owing to its distinctive style, state-of-the-art technology, and top-level handling and driving pleasure. All of these features have been refined over its history of more than 100 years, a prestigious achievement shared by very few auto makers and peppered with commercial successes and racing wins.
Just like those captured by the Alfa Romeo 155 “DTM” on hand at the Dutch event and that will take to the track to liven up the “Spettacolo Sportivo” with its extraordinary developments.
Belonging to the collection of the Alfa Romeo Museum, in the early nineties the version participated in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), which at that time was by far the most prestigious championship for touring cars. In the early years, the starting grid was formed exclusively by German manufacturers. Until 1993, when Alfa Romeo decided to officially participate with the 155 V6 Ti driven by Alessandro Nannini and Nicola Larini and with other cars assigned to semi-official teams.
Two rare examples of the Giulietta Spider – an ‘America prototype’ and a ‘Bertone’ – that pay homage to the iconic model that will be celebrating its 60th anniversary this year will also be present.
Its debut was amazing: in the first event at Zolder (Belgium), the 155 V6 Ti was triumphant in both races. At the end of the season, Larini won no fewer than 10 out of 20 races that, added to Nannini’s two wins in addition to the numerous podiums and placings of the two Italian drivers, earned Alfa Romeo the Constructors’ title and Larini the Drivers’ title. It was a real shock for the German competitors, who had to accept the winning of the 1993 DTM championship by an Italian brand on its debut in this top-level competition.
On 23 and 24 August, the public at Zandvoort will be able to get a close-up look at this legendary racing car that structurally differs significantly from the standard production version. A powerful engine designed specifically for racing “beats” under its bonnet: the block is that of the standard 2.5-litre V6 engine with power reaching 420 HP at 12,000 rpm (values close to those of Formula 1). The car boasts sophisticated aerodynamics which effectively exploit the regulations of the series, while the driver’s seat is set back 15 cm to improve weight distribution.
Last but not least, the Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti was equipped with four-wheel drive for the first time in the DTM championship.
The Dutch event is also an ideal opportunity to become familiar with some valuable Alfa Romeo sports cars of private ownership or belonging to the Alfa Romeo Museum at close range. Standing out among these are the numerous Giuliettas that pay a fitting tribute to an iconic model of the brand that will be celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. In particular, Zandvoort visitors can admire two special units – an America prototype and another designed by Bertone – of the Giulietta Spider (1954), affectionately termed “the young lady” by Giovanni Battista “Pinin” Farina, who designed its sleek lines.
Built on the Giulietta Sprint’s floor panel, but with reduced wheelbase, the Giulietta Spider immediately met with international success. For example, it is welcomed so enthusiastically in the United States that the specialist press defines it as “a splendid continuity of the Italian tradition of good taste that means you can pick out an Alfa Romeo from a thousand other cars at a glance”. On show in Zandvoort is the Giulietta Spider America prototype (1955) of the Alfa Romeo Museum itself, one of the most beautiful cars ever made and a symbol of the fifties, boasting the same performance as the Sprint and the same level of technical excellence, to the extent of immediately making the spiders of rival manufacturers seem obsolete. The second Giulietta Spider – a very rare specimen designed by Bertone – belonging to a private collector excites the same fascination.
The new, multi-award-winning Alfa Romeo 4C, the brand’s modern icon that represents the essential sportiness embedded in the ‘Alfa Romeo DNA’, will also be on show in Zandvoort alongside these extraordinary cars of the past: outstanding performance and technical excellence for maximum driving pleasure combined with a breathtaking style. This is the secret of both the numerous international awards that the brand has won at a relentless pace and of the appointment as Official Safety Car in the thrilling SBK Superbike World Championship in 2014 and in the highly competitive World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in 2014.
The Alfa Romeo 4C is a true driving machine without compromise that delivers its best precisely on the track, where speed, short braking distances and transverse acceleration are essential to get first-rate lap times: from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds flat, 258 km/h of top speed, deceleration peaks in the range of 1.2 g and lateral acceleration peaks over 1.1 g. All this is achieved also owing to an optimum weight distribution – 40% on the front axle and 60% on the rear axle – and to a total dry weight of just 895 kg – for the most part made up of carbon fibre, aluminium, steel and SMC in addition to an extraordinary weight-to-power ratio of less than 4 kg/HP.
